Recent advances in vertebrate pest management

Vertebrate pests threaten biodiversity conservation, agriculture, food security and public health worldwide. Their adaptability, high reproductive potential and use of human modified landscapes make it difficult to achieve the control by implementing single method. This review included the recent advancements in vertebrate pest management, covering how conventional methods, digital surveillance, biotechnological methods and other integrated pest management (IPM) strategies fit together. Among traditional approaches rodenticides, trapping, habitat manipulation and culling remain widely used but are constrained by resistance, non-target poisoning, welfare concerns, reinvasion and regulatory frameworks. Newer technologies such as the smart traps, drones, thermal imaging cameras, camera traps, artificial intelligence (AI) and environmental DNA (eDNA) have improved the accuracy of early detection, population monitoring and decision-making. Genetic and reproductive control offer species-specific, potentially sustainable options but limited by delivery, ecological, biosafety and acceptance constraints. In future, the vertebrate pest management must shift from reactive to proactive, data-driven, ecologically grounded control supported by adaptive IPM, strong regulations with a stakeholder collaboration.